Hot Lunch...

This is the page two of the post I did about working in Rowdy's classroom. On the days I work Bo and Avery go to a friend's house. I only work part of the day and I go pick up Bo and Avery and we meet Rowdy for "Hot Lunch". There are several things about this page that I think are noteworthy:


- It was "corn dog" Friday, Rowdy's favorite!
- Rowdy always gets chocolate milk
- Bo has celebrity status when I bring him for lunch and kids flock to our table to sit with
Rowdy's little brother!
-The reason I included so many pictures of Rowdy and his beloved corn dog is because he said the funniest thing this particular day at lunch. He very simply told me as his corn dog neared the end of the stick and he had already popped it off the stick, "It is usually at this point I do this" and he proceeded to tear off the corn bread and eat it separately from the hot dog. It just cracked me up that he was telling me his routine with the last bite of his corn dog. That is precisely what he is doing in the last photo. I love that boy!
-I am just thrilled to pieces with the picture of all three of them just doing their thing!

Rowdy...

*sidenote: yes, I am aware that his dimple that just won't quit is going to cause big problems in the future!

I have been helping in Rowdy's classroom every other week or so. I have really enjoyed being there. It is nice to see what his is up to all day and to meet his friends. This particular day that I helped was special because I got to see Rowdy do something that was so cute. His teacher was asking some of the students to share a writing sample and to read it out loud. One of Rowdy's classmates was taking his turn to read his story and got stuck just two sentences into his sample. After he stood up in front of the class for a few moments Rowdy popped up from his seat and stood right next to the boy to see if he could help. Rowdy didn't jump in and start reading over the boys shoulder he just stood there quietly and looked at the paper with the boy and offered support by whispering quietly. Once his friend got started again and seemed to be doing fine, Rowdy just stayed by his side until he was done. I started to get teary right there in the middle of my son's 2nd grade class, it was so cute to see Rowdy helping out his friend.

Bodie...

turned the tables on me...

I share my laptop (sometimes)...

Please excuse the bed-head! We like starfall. It is a great site for those learning to read!

Special Valentine's Dinner...

Roses, chocolate, fine dining are all things that say Valentine's day. And in this house so does Portland Wrestling and Walmart!

On the eve of Valentine's day we had a special dinner. Avery helped me set the table and decorate it! This is something she really enjoys. We sprinkled little red rose (fake from the dollar store) petals all over the table and I told her to put some on the floor too. When Bodie walked in and saw them on the floor he said "Mess! HUGE mess!" and did this little wiping motion with his hands!

Everyone had a box of chocolates and a little present at their place setting and a name card. We used the fancy glasses and fancy plates. I BBQ'd steaks and I don't think they turned out very good. Ron said they tasted fine (but he, like his father, is a Billy Goat, and will eat anything).

I received some beautiful red roses from the boys in my life and Rowdy wrote me a "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue" poem. When Rowdy handed me the roses he said, "We picked them out at Wal-mart! The were the most expensive ones! They were 15 bucks!" Hilarious!

After dinner Ron and Rowdy went to a Portland Wrestling event with Uncle Byron and his cousin Aaron and Josh. So Avery, Bodie and I got to just hang out at home and watch movies together!

This is how Ron dressed for the Wrestling Event...

and was thrilled with his "costume" as he called it, because it got a response from one of the wrestlers. When he got home he told me that one of the wrestlers singled him out to tell him to "go back to your trailer"! What can I say...he's my Valentine!

12 of 12...

1. Rowdy chose Nascar Valentines this year
2. Honey is a very popular item with Rowdy. As you can tell by the mess cap he likes to make PB and Honey sandwiches all by himself.
3. Two items that we use every morning.
4. Smokey and Avery greeting each other.
5. Avery found and earth worm. She told me she loves them. She named it Gummy worm. So now Bodie thinks that worms are called Gummy worms.
6. It rained again today. Avery is in the rain drop. I posted a bigger picture below.
7. Loading up on the bus.
8. Bodie is convinced this racecar in our driveway is Lightening McQueen.
9. Rain = Puddles for stomping
10. Bodie has celery in his hands because we were looking for our bunny Ruby. She doesn't live in her hutch anymore...she is a free range rabbit.
11. Inside to play play doh while Mama cleans up and makes lunch.
12. Recently Rowdy has been pointing out all the scientific names of all the clouds in the sky.

13. Avery at her Valentines party at school
14. Avery's cute box to collect her Valentines
15. Rowdy at his party. The heart on the back of his chair had all of his Valentines in it...he told me that he decorated it too much...I didn't think so at all.
16. They had a health snack party.
17. One of the kids gave Bo a carrot.
18. Avery listening to a story before her class was excused. She used to sit front and center everyday at Preschool too!
19. Bodie found a little table and went right to work and looked like he could have been in Kindergarten himself.
20. We played on the playground before we came home. Rowdy told me that he thought I would come and get them ( I hadn't told them previously that I would pick them up from school).
21. Avery has a writing sample on the "writing wall" at school. So cute!
22. Sharing her bubbles that she got for Valentine's Day with Bo.
23. Rowdy enjoying his first "Fun Dip".
24. Outback for dinner with Dada!


Note: I did 24 pictures because we had a busy day and since I have two pages in the book I decided to do more!

One home at noon...

Six...

is all she has been dreaming about for quite sometime...Counting down the days until her birthday! Ron got her a new bike and it is so cute...I think I will put together a little scavenger hunt for her to find it with her friends at her party? I am also attemping to make some little Hello Kitty cupcake thingys...post to follow!

Train yard...

We went OMSI on Friday (pictures to follow). I promised Rowdy I would try to find this place that we have taken him before. It is a real roundhouse. There is a turn table in the back too. If you are Thomas the Tank Engine fans you know what I am talking about.

Here he is standing in front of a train that had 6 Engines doing the work. It was actually moving behind him. I will post more photos of this adventure because his cousin Evan went and there was plenty of excitement involved.

Miss Avery Girl...

So, I am going to try to extend this little 12 of 12 to each of my kids. But the date when I follow them around with my camera is going to be a little bit more loosey goosey. It is a fun task and hard to only keep it to twelve photos...so I did thirteen on this page for Avery.

By the way...if you find typos in my pages...just let it slide...I just found one in this top page...it would be a major pain in my fanny to go fix it...it makes it all that much more fun to figure out what I meant...

Snack time...

I used to give Bodie fruit snacks. He loved them. He called them "Na-nacks". Bodie used to also have really bad diaper rashes. I called those "owie-bums". It took me awhile to figure out that eating Na-nacks = owie-bum. So, while we were in Hawaii I distributed zero Na-nacks. Guess what? No more owie bum! See little triumphs like that make me feel like maybe I am qualified to be a Mom! The saddest part is he sort of went through a withdrawl from them. He kept asking for them months after I stopped giving them to him. And I had to choose my words carefully, because if I said the word "snack" he would beg for them. Poor little guy.

Friends...

I know that Bodie is in his pajamas in both of the album pages that I have posted. What can I say? He is the last one to get up. Getting him dressed is the lowest thing on my priority list because I am busy all morning doing things to get the other two out the door. He usually gets his bath in the afternoon anyway so it works out well somedays to just stay in the old pjs. Don't worry I get him dressed when we go places.

Mr. Helpy Helperton...

It seems like I don't have very many photos of this little boy. So I am going to try to get more of him. This album idea is going to work out great! Here is another layout I worked on last night. I knew I wanted to get some shots of him afterschool. I thought we would be taking some more photos of him on his bike. When Ron asked Rowdy to feed the chickens I followed him in there and just let him do his thing...When I take photos of Rowdy he will pose for me. But the ones that end up being my favorite are the ones I snap when he is talking to me and telling me a story. Today he was talking about the movie Up! and his favorite line when the Dogs get distracted while they are talking and say "Squirrel!" So that has been a little joke around our house right lately.

Princess to Sea Star...

I set a goal of scrapbooking more in 2010. Initially, I wasn't sure how I was going to find another window of time to do that. I already feel like I spend too much time blogging and editing photos.

The truth: When you walk into my home you wouldn't be able to tell I am a photographer. I haven't been good about printing photos since I went digital when Avery was one. Also, my scrapbooking has taken a back seat to the photography. Well, since both go hand in hand I am going to be working on some albums for the kids. I have often felt a little bit bothered by the fact I have all these awesome photos of my kids but no books or prints to show for it...bothered and guilty. So I have a solution! I figured out that I can double dip by doing a blog post and then using that post to put into a book. Therefore, I am not working with the photos two times and spending twice the amount of time. I didn't ever think I would be a digital scrapbooker but it just seems to be the natural progression of things.

I am working on a test album to see how the printing side of it will work out. I hope to have it sent off sometime this week???

The post I did about Bodie playing on the computer will go in his book. And here is one I did for Avery and I added some journaling so that I don't need to type that again when I go to make the book. I'm really looking forward to the finished product. Again, I am so thrilled that my blogging time will be serving two purposes now!

Fisher Price dot com...

Rowdy and Avery like to play on the computer. Bodie hasn't played on it too much yet. There are some good on-line games for kids. Fisher price even has some games for toddlers. The other day while I was cleaning up kid mess in my office (Bodie and Avery had been cutting paper earlier), I introduced Bodie to Fisher Price on-line. He loved it! The toddler games only require the child press the space bar. I put a lady bug sticker on the space bar so he would know what key to press. He thought the sound that the shape game makes was so funny!

January 12 of 12

See the post below to find out what this post is all about.


1. Rowdy eating his breakfast in front of the heater in his nest
2. I do homework with Avery before she goes to school
3. Bodie is excited because he is eating the marshmallows off of Avery’s homework
4. Avery catching the bus
5. It rained

6. Avery loves honey bunches of oats, it is the go to, anytime meal
7. Afterschool snack
8. They were in a really silly mood
9. We are reading a train book that Rowdy looked up and brought home from the library
10. I had to run into town to pay a ticket I got for expired tags…they waived it…yes
11. Burritos for dinner…so easy
12. Bodie at the end of the night snuggled in with “noopy”

*Things not pictured are the kids out in the barn helping Ron (I was making dinner) and he is working on a new workout space for us. It is going to be great. We also went to Wal-Mart, my visiting teachers came and I didn’t get any of Tim today. It is hard to narrow it down. I’m sure some of my extra photos will end up in other blog posts.

The Blog for 2010...

You don't know how good it feels to type a regular blog title and not check to see that I am typing the right number in the title...whew!

So this is the plan for my 2010 blog. I have been inspired by another blogger and my friend Kim to do something different with my blog. The 365 was fun and I know that I took more photos than I would have if I didn't have the challenge.

We got the idea from another blogger who on the 12th of each month takes her camera throughout her day. She takes photos of all the things going on. Then she blogs about 12 of those photos.

I am going to take things one step further and begin with the end in mind. I am going to take these blog posts and turn them into a book at the end of the year.

I am really seriously thinking about doing a seperate 12 of 12 for all my kids too! I would pick a different day of the month and follow only them around with the camera. I am thinking their birthday day would be a good day. Although, Rowdy and Avery are both on the 7th so I need to work out that detail.

Doing something like this will force me to do two things. One, take pictures of things that I normally wouldn't at times of the day I normally wouldn't and I will be forced to take more of me and Ron (and that is a great thing!). We don't tend to be in many of the photos.

If anyone wants to join me it is not to late. I didn't really commit to doing this until yesterday and the 12th was two days ago. So my January 12th was really the 13th...oh well.

Three Hundred and Sixty Five...

Happy New Year from the Shinkle Family
(I might be doing a great big happy dance as I click the publish post button on these last few blog entries)

Three Hundred and Sixty Four...

When I was traveling from Utah to Oregon I took this self portrait. It is something that I will be doing more of in 2010. I am already taking photos for 2010's blog entries. I can't wait to start posting under the new challange.
I hope those of you who stuck with me throughout this year have enjoyed it and maybe I have somehow inspired you to do the same or design your own challange.

Three Hundred and Sixty Three...

So it won't be right to finish up this 365 challange without reviewing my word for the year. Potential! I feel like I did some things this year that I might not have done unless I had this word to focus on. Here is a little list:

• I tried to be more thoughtful and follow through with it. Sometimes I am think of something nice to do for someone and then I don't follow through.


• I tried not to be such a home body. I opened up my home to lots of people throughout the year. At one point this summer we had the boy scouts in our pool tipping canoes.


• I really pushed myself to get better at photography. I was maybe a tad too focused in this area.

I think I could have lived up to my potential more in some areas. I would make steps forward and then fall back on those goals. But that is life, I suppose. I have 2010 right?